Miles of Smiles in Guatemala: Growth, Outreach, and Connections of Iowa MOST

Casa Colibri Clinic

Throughout seven Iowa MOST trips there have been many developments that are an expansion of the scope of the mission. For example, a badly needed ambulance and firefighter turnout gear have been donated to the Fire Department of Huehuetenango. (See 2011 blog entry Emergency Vehicle) This year there is another opportunity. The relationship that has developed through translator Paco Fernandez with the medical clinic Casa Colibri (see 2011 blog entry Friday in Antigua) has expanded our outreach in many ways. Many patients from the Casa Colibri have been brought to the mission site for lip or palate repair. Currently there are several children who have been seen at Casa Colibri who suffer from an encephaloceole, a growth between the eyes, which requires surgical removal. This year one of our Iowa MOST surgeons, Dr. Brian Andrews, Director of Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery at University of Kansas Medical Center, brings us information about programs in the United States with access to funds to bring children to the US from other countries to receive this ‘special’ surgery - Another connection! New hopes that arise from Iowa MOST!

Dr Brian Andrews, right, helps expand our potential

Another advantageous result of Iowa MOST is that one of our Guatemalan doctors Antonio Rosal Alvarez has joined the board of the Casa Colibri Clinic, and he serves as the chief dentist on the clinic’s medical missions, a great asset to the clinic. Dr. Rosal has participated in every Iowa MOST mission where he met Paco Fernandez and learned about Casa Colibri. Another wonderful connection!

“Casa Colibri Board Member – Dr Antonia Rosal Alvarez

Dental Outreach

Our two engineers from Johnson & Johnson Krasimira Hristov and Reinhard Juraschek brought 1,000 toothbrushes to donate. They visited Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta La Paz where they joined in with the children who were already going through their daily routine of filling a small bowl with water, receiving toothpaste from the principal and brushing their teeth in the courtyard. Krasi and Reinhard led a dental hygiene class and left each child with a new toothbrush to be able to continue their good habits.

The toothbrushes not donated to the school will be left in the dental clinic of ‘Hospital Regional de Occidente San Juan de Dios’ where Iowa MOST holds the mission in Quetzaltenango.

Reinhard Juraschek “facilitating a dental hygiene class at a rural school”